Today was a revolutionary day for me. What happened on this day has occurred very few times in the 25 years of my life.
I woke up at 5 a.m. in order to workout.
Now, we all know that I’m big on my exercise. This is a fact. However, my enthusiasm is not so great that I would wake up hours before the work day begins in order to squeeze in some cardio. Not until today.
I knew this shift was coming eventually. I knew at some point, life would get too full and busy for me to continue my p.m. workouts. That moment just happened to occur more quickly than I had imagined.
Here’s the deal: There just aren’t enough evening hours to exercise, cook wholesome meals, spend time with Stephen, and blog. (And do laundry. And do dishes. And keep my apartment clean. And buy groceries. And watch my Netflix movies.) I need more time at night. The logical decision is to change my workout schedule. Easier said than done.
After barely sleeping at all last night, I silenced the 5 a.m. siren and reset it for 7. I remember briefly thinking, I’ll start tomorrow. No problem. I just need some SLEEP. And then I laid there. And I started thinking about all of the things that I wanted to accomplish this evening. The thoughts popped me out of my toasty bed into the frigid air of my apartment. I threw on my gym clothes, and I drove to the gym.
Once I got to the there, I felt it a bit too early for a hardcore workout. So I read a Cooking Light magazine as I ellipticaled for 50 minutes. Hopefully once I get used to these crack of dawn exercise sessions, I’ll feel motivated to engage in a more intense workout. We’ll see. For now, I’ll settle for being proud of today’s monumental accomplishment.
I plan to follow this schedule during the work week for the next 14 days. After the time elapses, I will evaluate whether or not dark, cold mornings and I are going to get along for the remainder of my working life.
I’m calling this the A.M. Exercise Challenge. Want to join?
What time of day do you usually work out? Have you ever tried to mix things up? Was is successful?
I used to be the same way- I would workout in the evening till all I could do was drag myself to bed after a long day. So I switched over to workout at 5 am I did an out door boot camp in the summer.
Reasons why I love working out at 5 am:
1) You don’t hit traffic lights- its nice to be the only person driving around.
2) There is something about being up and about when everyone else is still in bed.
3) The air! Its soooo clean and easy to breathe!
I am sooo with you!!!
Congrats on your am workout! I want to join you! For 3 or 4 years I used to get up to workout in the mornings and then BAM, I just stopped. And I have had little motivation to get start getting up early again. But your post inspired me!
I wouldn’t work out at all if I waited until the p.m. to do so. I hate getting up, but I like the energy all day and at the end of the day I like my down time. Good luck
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